Applicator for granular insecticides,fertilizers and seeds



Nov. 18, 1969 H. FARM ERY 3,478,936

APPLICATOR FOR GRANULAR INSECTICIDES, FERTILIZERS AND SEEDS Filed Oct.9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 B 10 ,r 2 11 g 20 1 a i a Y 15 18 Z a j M 15j FIG] HoRsrmE FARMERY Ihveh'for Nov. 18, 1969 H. FARMERY 3,478,936

APPLICATOR FOR GRANULAR INSECTICIDES, FERTILIZERS AND SEEDS Filed Oct.9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FlBl. FIGS r E i J HORST/NE FAR/WEI? y h rfl orUnited States Patent 3,478,936 APPLICATOR FOR GRANULAR INSECTICIDES,FERTILIZERS AND SEEDS Horstine Farmery, York, England, assignor toHorstine Farmery Limited, York, England, a British company Filed Oct. 9,1967, Ser. No. 673,822 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct.29, 1966, 48,597/ 66 Int. Cl. Gtllf 11/06, 11/28 US. Cl. 222-340 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The object of the invention is to anapparatus for applying small quantities of granules on the ground oronto growing crops, and is particularly concerned with the provision ofa simple apparatus, suitable for use by unskilled persons and Wheremechanical apparatus is unsuitable or unavailable, for so applying smallquantities of granular insecticides and fertilizers or for seed sowing.

To this end the apparatus according to the present invention comprises ahollow body having a discharge orifice, an externally mounted rockablemember, an elongated member fastened to the rockable member and carryinga pair of spaced orifice closure surfaces individually capable ofselectively closing the discharge orifice, and resilient means effectiveon said elongated member to urge one of said closure surfaces into aposition closing the discharge orifice and the other of said closuresurfaces into a position remote from said orifice, the positions of saidclosure surfaces relative to said orifice being reversible upon movementof said elongated member.

The elongated member may extend over the hollow body and have at itsfree end a pad for convenient digital operation by a hand holding suchbody to rock the rockably mounted member to cause selectively openingmovements of the closure surfaces, or said elongated member may extendaway from the body so that its free end may be dragged along or tappedon the ground similarly to rock the rockably mounted member, to permitgranular and like particulate material in the hollow body to dischargethrough the orifice.

In preferred form, the apparatus comprises a tubular body of circularcross-section, which is closed at one end where the discharge orifice isprovided. The rockable member is preferably in the form of a ball, withsuch ball extending through an aperture in the wall of the body with theedge of which aperture it makes rubbing contact. The ball is mounted ona shaft or pin carried by integral lugs or members exteriorly fastenedto the wall of the body. The ball may carry, internally of the body, anarm, which may be suitably curved and which may have at its end apart-spherical surface capable of closing the discharge orifice(comprising one of the closure surfaces mentioned earlier), and atapering opposite surface to 3,478,936 Patented Nov. 18, 1969 facilitatethat member moving through the contents of the body. When such an arm isprovided, but Without the part-spherical closure surface, it acts as anagitator to facilitate the discharge of the material in the body.

The elongated member is, for example, a rod made of steel and extends,substantially parallel to the major axis of a tubular hollow body,through the rockable member or ball at right angles to its pivot axis.

The other closure member may take a variety of forms but is preferably aduplicate of the aforementioned ball rockable member comprising anotherarm having a partspherical closure surface, and a portion apertured tothread onto the elongated member and be locked thereto in the requiredposition for its part-spherical closure surface to close the dischargeorifice in the body.

An elastic band may extend around the elongated member and the hollowbody, or a spring may act between such member and the body, normally totend to urge the parts so that one of the closure surfaces will closethe discharge orifice from the body.

In use, the apparatus is carried along by hand either for digitaloperation or with the tip of the elongated member dragging along theground so that ground irregularities vibrate the elongated member tocause the two closure surfaces alternately to open and close thedischarge orifice. This action produces an intermittent discharge of thecontents, which is facilitated by the agitation imparted to the contentsof the body by movement of one of the aforementioned arms through saidcontents.

To vary the amount of material discharged at each opening of thedischarge orifice, a plate may be mounted on the end of the body andprovided with a series of holes of different size, the largest of whichcorresponds to the size of the discharge orifice. This plate ispreferably rotatably mounted and has an arcuate row of holes, and alsopreferably has a blank space between the largest and smallest holes asan additional closure means for the discharge orifice when the apparatusis not in use. Such a plate is exposed for rotary movement by anoperators fingers when the chutes or guides (to be described) areremoved from the apparatus or not in use, and the plate is held in eachdesired position by a peripheral recess positioned radially of each holeas well as adjacent the blank space, and cooperating with a springloaded detent or ball which can latch in one such recess.

Chutes or guides of various shapes and lengths may be provided to leadthe discharged material in falling to ground or onto growing crops.

The apparatus may be used as stated by dragging the tip of the elongatedmember along the ground to lay a line of insecticide granules orfertilizer, or by tapping such tip on the ground to apply such granulesor fertilizer at required points, or manually both for continuous aswell as intermittent discharge; and the apparatus may also be used tosow seeds into drills or prepared troughs in the ground.

An embodiment of apparatus is by way of example hereinafter more fullydescribed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus,

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale,

FIG. 3 is an end view looking on the left hand side of FIG 2,

FIG. 4 is a view of the disc on the end of the body, and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal-section similar to FIG. 2, showing amodification of the apparatus.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 to 4 of the drawings throughout which likeparts bear like reference numerals, the apparatus comprises a body 1 inthe form of a tube, for example of mild steel, which has at one end adie-cast closure part 2 in which is provided a discharge orifice 3. Inthe wall of body 1 is'an aperture in which is seated a ball 4, mountedfor rocking movement on an axle 5 carried by lugs 6 and 7 integral withpart 2, in an arrangement such that the periphery of ball 4 makesrubbing contact with the edge of said aperture.

The ball 4 carries, or is integral with, and arm 8 terminating in apart-spherical surface 9 capable of closing discharge orifice 3, andprovided with opposite divergent fiat surface 10 to facilitate movementof arm 8 through the contents of the body 1. The ball 4 also has anexternal extension 11 through which extends an elongated metal member orrod 12, in a direction at right angles to the axle 5, to overlie thebody 1. The rod 12 has a pad or disc 13 on its end. The rod 12 alsocarries a closure member 14, which is conveniently a duplicate of theball 4 and its arm 8, and which has an arm 15 provided with apart-spherical closure surface 16.

In order to vary the amount discharged at each opening of the dischargeorifice 3, a disc 17 (see FIG. 4) having and arcuate row of holes 18 ofdifferent size is rotatably mounted adjacent one end of part 2. Byrotation of disc 17, any one of the holes 18 may register with dischargeorifice 3, and orifice 3 can be completely closed when covered by theblank part of disc 17. A recess 19 is provided in the periphery of disc17 in association with each of the holes 18 and with the aforementionedblank part of disc 17, part 2 is provided with a detent or spring loadedball 20 which can engage any one such recess 19 to latch disc 17 in aselected position.

A spring 21 is disposed around axle 5 to react between part 2 and rod 12so as to urge rod 12 in a direction such that surface 16 of closuremember 14, 15 normally closes discharge orifice 3 by obstructing thehole 18 in disc 17 in register therewith thus preventing any of thecontents of body 1 from passing therethrough.

The aparatus is completed by the provision of a chute 23 which can beplugged into the end of part 2, chute 23 being provided with a gap toaccomodate the closure member 14, 15.

In use, the apparatus is carried in the hand. When it is desired todeposit granular or particulate material, seeds and such like contentsof the body 1 onto the ground, digital pressure, e.g. by the holdersthumb, is applied to the pad 13 to depress rod 12 against the springpressure thereon. This acts to rock the ball 4 in such direction thatthe surface 9 moves to close the discharge orifice 3. At the same time,movement of arm 15 causes its surface 16 to move away from and so openthe hole 18 in the dis 17 in register with orifice 3. Between the timethat hole 18 is opened by movement of surface 16, and the time thatorifice 3 is closed by movement of surface 9, a portion of the contentsof the body 1 will pass through such discharge orifice 3 and will bedischarged onto the ground via chute 23.

'As an alternative to such digital operation, the rod 12 may extend in adirection opposite to that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to an appreciabledistance beyond the lower end of the apparatus as shown in FIG. 5. Whenthe lower free end of such a downwardly extending rod 12 is draggedalong the ground the lower irregularities thereof will cause rocking ofthe ball 4, or such free end of rod may be tapped on the ground to causerocking of the ball 4. In this alternative arrangement, when a heavieror continuous discharge is required, the part-spherical end 9 of thearm8 may be cut off as indicated at 24 (FIG. 5) so that the dischargeorifice is not closed internally, and the arm 8 then merely acts as anagitator.

The'open end. of the body 1 may be closed by a cap which may be removedfor filling the body 1, or such open end may telescope with respectto'the end of tubular container (not shown) of material to bedischarged.

I claim:

1. An applicator for dispensing granular material and seeds comprising ahollow container for holding material to be dispensed, means providingadischarge orifice at one end of said container, an aperture in a sidewall of said container, pivot-means on the exterior of said containeradjacent said aperture, support' means rockably mounted on said pivotmeans and having a portion extending through said side wall aperturefrom the exterior to the interior of said container, said support meansincluding a curved surface in rubbing engagement with the edges of saidside wall aperture for sealing said side wall aperture against thedischarge of material therethrough while simiutaneously permittingrocking motion of said support means on said pivot means, an elongatedarm extending from the interior portion of said support means into theinterior of said container and through any material contained thereinfor movement through said material upon rocking motion of said supportmeans,1said arm including a closure surface positioned within saidcontainer adjacent said discharge orifice and movable toward and awayfrom said discharge orifice with rocking motion of said support meansand resultant movement of said elongated arm, and manual operator meansengaging said support means adjacent the exterior of said container forselectively effecting rocking motion of said support means and resultantmovement of said closure surface.

2. The applicator of claim 1 wherein said side wall aperture is round,said curved surface in rubbing engagement with said aperture beingspherical.

3. The applicator of claim 2 wherein said discharge orifice is round,said closure surface being spherical.

4. The applicator or claim 1 including a further elongated armpositioned exterior of said container and ex tending toward saiddischarge orifice in spaced relation to said first-mentioned arm, saidfurther arm including a further closure surface positioned outside ofsaid container adjacent said discharge orifice in spaced relation tosaid first-mentioned closure surface, and means coupling said furtherarm to said manual operator means for movement of said further armtogether with said first-mentioned arm, whereby movement of one of saidclosure surfaces toward said discharge orifice simultaneously effectsmovement of the other closure surface away from said orifice.

5. The applicator of claim 4 wherein each of said closure surfacescomprises a part spherical surface.

6. The applicator of claim 4, including resilient means coupled to saidmanual operator means for normally urging one of said closure surfacesinto closing engagement with said discharge orifice and forsimultaneously urging the other of said closure surfaces into a positionspaced from said discharge orifice.

7. The applicator of claim 6 wherein said resilient means is arranged tourge said first-mentioned closure surface into normally spaced relationto said orifice on the interior or said container, and to urgesaidfurther closure surface into normally closing engagement with saidorifice on the exterior of said container.

8. The applicator of claim 1 including flow control means adjacent saiddischarge orifice for selectively varying the effective size of saiddischarge orifice.

9. The applicator of claim 4 including flow control means disposedadjacent said discharge orifice at a location between said closuresurfaces, said flow control means comprising a movably mounted aperturedmember having a plurality of differently sizedapertures adapted to beindividually positioned adjacent, said discharge orifice.

10. The applicator of claim 1 wherein said container is tubular, saidmanual operator. comprising an elongated rod extending alongside theexterior, of said container in. a direction generally parallel to theaxis of said tubular container, said rod having afree end remote from.said discharge orifice for selective movement to control the positioningof said closure surface relative to said orifice.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,064,493 11/1962 Popovich et a1.3,257,037

6/1966 Watson 222-556 X ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner 5 N. L.STACK, JR., Assistant Examiner

